Dreamer's Nightmares
by Mo0ngazer
Summary: Firestar meets his end, but not how he suspected. There is no StarClan waiting for him, nor a dark forest of his daughter’s nightmares. Instead, he returns to a place no one would have guessed... Because he never left. T for violence and lots of death
1. Prologue: Rusty

_**Prologue: **_**Rusty**

"Fireheart! Fireheart!"

The chants rang in the leader's ears, and he smiled.

They were only echoes, of course, and he knew it. But that didn't make him any less nostalgic about it. It was the same with the visions—He was walking through a forest, beside a river. And there was a ridge and stones toppled upon one another...

ThunderClan's rusty leader closed his eyes and let the memory swallow him whole, like prey. The faces around him, anxious, upset, miserable already, dissolved as he walked through the old forest, before the Great Journey, before the threads of so many stories and so many cats had gotten tangled in each other, when he had been just a stressed deputy, a worried warrior, an eager apprentice...

They watched him as he curled more tightly, and his voice escaped him, rasping and rusted, as if his words had been sitting in the sun for too long.

"Cats..." he began, smiling again to himself as if sharing a private joke, "Of ThunderClan..." He gave a rasping chuckle. "I gathered you here today to tell you how... honored I have been to lead you. You haven't been submissive minions who carry out my dirty work... and for that I am unendingly grateful. You always managed to pose the other side of the argument and make me think about things first, and even when I wanted to slit your throats, that was a like gift from StarClan.

"But it wasn't a gift from StarClan. It was a gift from you. There are no cats I'd rather have had fighting beside me, and now that the end of this journey has come, I can thank you all properly," he sighed, and closed his eyes. The eyes of the cats watching were wide and sad, their shoulders low and their tails limp on the ground. None of them had known a ThunderClan without this rust-colored tom woven into the fabric somewhere. Now that certainty was getting shaken and toppled.

Firestar knew it, and he opened his eyes again to stare at the cats surrounding him. Absorbing them all. They were nothing like any of the cats he had known when he'd been a kittypet. They were nothing like Smudge or Harry...

He smiled at the odd way his mind was casting back to the very beginning now, at the very end of nine lives...

"This last battle," he continued in a rasp, "left us all beaten. Some of us beyond the point of return. Myself included. I know that our deputy feels up to the task of leadership," he said, flicking his tail vaguely at the tom. Absently he wondered why she-cats were never deputy in ThunderClan. Only Bluestar had ever... "Since we lost... so many of our number... it has been hard... and... I just wanted you all to know... and to remember... always... that I hope StarClan will light your path... but it is you who sets your paws on it in the beginning."

Murmurs swept through the circle, sad ones. He relaxed then, and just before closing his eyes, he watched his deputy. A proud, strong warrior, ready to face the leadership approaching him. Once, Firestar might have considered him young, but he had no doubts now.

And yet, in a sea of faces, that tom was the only one whose head was not bowed. And he was the only one with a faint trace of a sneer lurking around his whiskers.

* * *

But then the darkness swallowed him entirely.

He didn't know, of course, it came too quickly. He did know, on the other hand, that he was now falling.

Into something deep and endless, he tumbled, calm and accepting of his fate in the future. He wasn't approaching any future anymore, he decided, but whatever was going to happen to his spirit, he was ready.

Or so he thought.

* * *

Black. Dark. Empty. That was what he was falling through. Or so he thought.

"Wrong again!" squawked a voice. His spiritual stomach clenched. "Wrong, wrong, wrong Firestar!" it shrieked. "Guess again!" It was the voice he had hoped so long to forget. How had it followed him here?

"What do you mean?" ThunderClan's former leader demanded, swiveling his head as the nothingness rushed past him. "Why do you keep coming back? Have I done something wrong?"

"Yes!" cawed the crow, flapping close enough to Firestar's spirit that he could feel the creature's wings near him. It was too dark to see. "You answered all the questions wrong! You thought wrong! You didn't even think! Can't you see?" It wasn't cackling like it usually did. It sounded angry, disappointed, even hurt. "Can't you see? I've been trying to warn you!"

"About what?" yelled Firestar, a knot of panic twisting inside him. Where was StarClan? Wasn't he supposed to go there?

"Not to get all nestled in!" it shrieked. "Not to get comfy! I tried to test you, send you the nightmares, make you insecure! So you wouldn't get _attached! _That just makes it hurt more when you _find out_!"

"Find—out—_what_?!" snarled the leader, lashing his paw out.

"You'll find out soon enough," it said, and Firestar heard the wings pull away and the haunting caws vanish one last time, "Rusty."

Firestar's eyes widened. _What? _

Then he hit the ground.

The ground was hard and slippery, rubbery on its surface but very firm. And it hurt. That didn't make sense. He was dead! what would—

Suddenly, it hurt a lot more. He writhed, feeling like something was pulling him together from the inside, compressing him. It was like drowning, shoved down and unable to reach the surface again.

Slowly, the feeling passed. He felt weak and beaten, and there was a light pressing against his eyelids. Bright. Slowly, Rusty opened his eyes.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**_

**This one is going to be confusing, and yes, it is supposed to be. Also, it will be short. It includes many a spoiler for all of the books up to _Long Shadows_, and also my predictions for the coming books. I'm not so sure about this one, so remember to review and let me know what you think.**

**Thanks, Mo0ny**


	2. Chapter One: Of Course

_**Chapter One**_**: Of Course**

"You'll be fine," insisted Lionblaze. "I swear. Jayfeather's taking _care_ of you."

Firestar could read the hysteria in his grandson's voice easily. It had been a trying moon for the young warrior, what with his parentage finally exposed and then the revelation of his mentor's killer. So the leader, with a pained grunt, rolled over and gave his grandson a forced smile that looked more like a snarl.

"Lionblaze," said Firestar, his teeth bared, "I'm not worried. StarClan will decide my fate, and no herb or power could reverse it."

Lionblaze stiffened at the word 'power' and not for the first time, Firestar wondered what he was hiding.

"You should be getting along," Firestar went on, rolling back over, facing away from the warrior. "There are hunting patrols to lead and border laws to be enforced. Go on."

He was facing the wall now, a stretch of stone that looked like it was made of storm-tossed water. He listened, but heard no movement behind him. "Lionblaze? That was an order."

"Sir..." he said slowly, "Who are you going to appoint as deputy?"

"That's what I'd like to figure out," replied Firestar. "Moonhigh is closer than you think."

Lionblaze made no reply. Firestar could almost hear the gears in his mind running as he stood there. "Lionblaze?" Firestar said again, almost chuckling. "You with me?"

"Yes, sir," he said, sounding like someone had just hit him on the head.

"Okay. Then go dig up a hunting patrol. Tell them I asked you to lead it."

"Yes, sir," his grandson said again, almost dreamily. Firestar hoped he wasn't thinking about becoming deputy like his fath—ah, no like their former deputy. Firestar wished with all his heart and his final life that he was out there with them, mourning Brambleclaw, but Jayfeather wouldn't let him go anywhere, and he had to decide on a deputy, soon.

Before, he might have thought about the ancestors of Lionblaze and their power-hungry tendencies, but now he couldn't without wondering. Wondering what Crowfeather's family was like, which traits who had inherited... There must have been a power-hungry killer gene in there someplace, after Hollyleaf's sudden betrayal. And though he didn't know Crowfeather _well, _he now knew where the grumpy genes in Jayfeather came from.

Suddenly, something in his chest constricted, tight as metal and thick, and he couldn't breathe, he was panting and moving and someone's words came back to him, croaking and mocking him—

"When you forget, the strife will end. But if you forget, you won't remember."

He did remember. The dreams...

* * *

Firestar was walking, walking far, far away. The light slanted in no particular direction but instead in all of them. The trees grew in the ground, from the ground, and into the ground, and the sky was both ways and on both sides. He walked and walked, across plains and planes and deserted deserts. Through his words, around his thoughts and ideas, weaving in and out of his memories, towards...

"Firestar," said one of the trees. He jumped and turned. It was one of the ones growing the wrong way, with all its leaves in the ground absorbing sunlight. "I have to tell you..."

The leader realized that there was a crow sitting in the tree's upturned roots, speaking to him.

"This isn't a dream."

Firestar stared at it.

"I'm sorry, but if a crow is talking, I'm pretty sure it isn't reality either."

"No... neither. Either. This is your dream... of a dream. Do you understand now?"

"No," he said.

"It is just like the tree I am sitting in. You have gotten reality and dreams mixed up, and you don't know. You don't know," the bird went on, "if trees really do grow out of the ground like this. You haven't seen one for a long time! But actually, it hasn't been a long time. Perhaps it has. It certainly feels like it. You just don't know it yet.

"It feels like a long time, it feels like seasons and seasons have passed, but none really have. How long have you been walking through these words and ideas of yours?"

"I don't know," replied Firestar evenly. "You can never tell in dreams."

"Wrong!" it cawed. "You can tell how long you _think_ you've been here, meaning that time has technically passed. For you. And your dream. Time is change over a period of units. And has your dream changed? Yes! Of course it has! I got here. You moved. I can almost see the trees growing. The time is... It won't be real, of course, none of your dreams or the time in it are real, but it's perceived time. Do you see what I mean now?"

"No," said Firestar again. "I really don't, and I don't even see what you're getting at."

"No," sighed the bird, "But you will."

* * *

With a start, he jerked awake.

He didn't remember most of the dream. He could remember bits of it, like sunlight in a pool of water. The sunlight had swirled around like bits of sand in turning waves. And there had been a raven, sitting in a fallen tree. It had spoken to him like a friend who knew him well, who had known him through times of trouble.

Fireheart assumed it was the Ravenpaw of his dreams, a version of the real one, who he hadn't seen in a long while. Maybe he could go visit him sometime... When they went to HighStones to talk to StarClan, maybe, since this was such a time of turmoil and Bluestar was feeling so shaken all the time.

He twisted a little in his mossy nest, a cold spot licking his back. He turned and saw Graystripe's empty nest and a cold leaf-bare breeze making the twigs rattle. Of course. He could guess where his friend had gone, and was in no mood to talk to him about this issue. RiverClan was not in the best mood with ThunderClan either. The thaw was coming, at least, and then maybe things would ease up a bit. He certainly hoped so.

* * *

"Firestar! Firestar!"

"What?!" demanded the deputy, swinging around to snarl at the voice. Still, there was no one there.

He wasn't leader and he didn't want to be, but Longtail's mocking voice echoed off the canyon walls of his mind. Of his dream.

"I'm not the leader!" he called up at the ridges. His voice leapt from crack to crack, ringing and echoing. "I'm not the leader of ThunderClan!"

"Then who will you lead instead?" croaked the familiar voice. "Firestar?"

"I'm the _deputy_!" he bellowed, his heartbeat growing faster.

"You're no deputy!" yowled the voice, laughing madly. "You're afraid!" Fireheart could almost see the vee-shaped nick he had left in Longtail's ear the first day of his arrival and the stripes that slanted down the tom's back. But of course no cat was in sight, no one came to help, and he was alone at the bottom of the canyon.


	3. Chapter Two: The Calm Before the Storm

**Author's note**

Umm... I'm not so good at remembering everything in the early books, or really any of them, so if there are some continuity issues, I apologize! Thanks so much to the reviewers who are interested by this story, and hopefully its shortness will be able to hold your attention span (a lot of my usual stories seem to drag on...) Also note that I have not read _Sunrise_ yet, so these are entirely based on my suspicions and predictions from _Long Shadows_. I swear! This contains only possible spoilers for _Sunrise_—as far as I know, it is AU, but I could be wrong. All I will say is that I wrote this with no _Sunrise_ influence whatsoever and only suspicions, and after _Sunrise _came out, it all became rather pointless... Oh well!

_**Chapter Two: **_**The ****Calm Before the Storm **

"Are you going to come?" he asked Graystripe, shaking in his pelt.

"How can I not?" answered Graystripe weakly. "I'd be a traitor to our clan."

"But what about—" Fireheart nodded his head in various directions, avoiding the name of Graystripe's secret.

"I don't know." Graystripe said firmly, as if he had made up his mind not to. "I can either betray my clan and the cats I know best, or I can betray Silverstream. There isn't any choice, Fireheart! I don't have any options!"

"But you just said—" Fireheart began, but his friend cut across him.

"Those _aren't_ _options_," he growled, and tipped his head back, eyes squeezed shut. The sunlight was weak in the little beam of light between the shadows just outside their camp, but the wind was a calm, warm shelter from the leaf-bare that stretched out on all sides. "StarClan, why?" he whispered.

Fireheart stood, as frozen as the river he would soon cross, watching his miserable friend.

Graystripe was right. There was no choice. He had no choices.

* * *

He crouched, his haunches falling naturally into the right position. The trees were the green of summer, but Rusty was cool and calm. There was sunlight dappling the ground, but a cold evening wind wove through his fur, filling him with a feeling of freedom. Rusty crouched.

Today, he was going to catch a crow.

He glanced down at his neck and realized, with a purr, that his collar and bell were gone! Beaming, Rusty broke into a run, silent and free, through the summer woods. Almost immediately, he heard a _caw_ing nearby, and, unable to believe his luck, changed course for the darker copse of pine trees.

There was very little undergrowth here, so Rusty decided he needed to concentrate on stealth and staying low. Dropping once more into a crouch, he stalked forward towards his prey...

Suddenly, the crow vanished.

Rusty paused, confused, but then another _aw, aw _sounded behind him and he turned. The crow was bobbing around near the ground as if nothing had happened. Mystified, Rusty turned and crouched once more, but this time it faced him and, if crows could smile, this one did.

"Rusty," it said in such a voice.

"What?" Rusty jumped back in surprise.

"You are ready, aren't you?" it said.

"Um... am I?"

"I hope so," it replied.

Rusty stared blankly.

"You have not yet escaped your housefolk," the crow explained cryptically, his voice curved mockingly, "But no matter how soon you will think you have, you have not. You will receive... messages, but not from your subconscious... they are from your consciousness."

Rusty stared.

"_What_?" he said again.

The crow cackled. "You won't understand until its too late!" it cawed, and vanished, leaving Rusty in the woods, alone, and with his collar back around his neck.

* * *

Firestar never mentioned it to anyone.

He and Sandstorm had talked about it, a few times, but as the seasons wore on, it became merely a memory—a dream, passed by silently, like an illusion or a hallucination. Still, SkyClan haunted him, and the journey that he and his mate had made to scrap the broken clan back together. Imagining making that journey, leading your clan into the unknown, with no help from StarClan... He didn't want to imagine.

Still, nights before battles, Firestar thought of Skywatcher, of Cloudstar, and of the lost clan in the caves, out there somewhere, and wondered how Cloudstar had felt the morning before he and SkyClan had left. The uncertainty, not knowing if you or your closest friends would fall asleep in the same den the next night...

Well, in Cloudstar's case, he had known that he wouldn't have fallen asleep in that den the next night. Indeed, he had known then that he would never sleep in that den again.

And then sometimes, before the battles, Firestar wanted to be like Cloudstar, and just run away, and not look back.


	4. Chapter Three: Opponents

**Author's Note:**

I wrote this many months ago, before _Sunrise _came out—so whatever I predicted would happen I put in here. Then I lost my thumb drive and most of my interest in fanfiction altogether, but with the arrival of _The Fourth Apprentice, _I decided it was time to finish these up. So of course, now all this is AU, but I did get a fair amount right. Enjoy!

:) Mo0ny

_**Chapter Three: **_**Opponents**

The stars were dim in the sky, heavy with humid heat from the passing day. Firestar was glad it was finally night, but its dark air provided little relief. His pelt felt heavy, as though he had just come out of water and his fur was still soaked to the skin, though in this case soaked through with warmth.

The Gathering patrol walked quietly along the shore, subdued from the heavy blanket of heat, occasionally looking up to breathe in the slight breaths of wind. Firestar was not relaxed, but more lulled, as if he could drift off into sleep right there. But he kept going, fast—he didn't want to sleep—he was still sore from the nettle-feathers from the night before. And he could see that the moon was rising fast—they were late.

They saw no sign of WindClan as they walked through the dimly lit darkness, what little light came from the stars and distant full moon reflecting in little threads on the surface of the water. Firestar felt like the heat was a fog, and he was just awakening from a dream, webs of sleep clearing off his eyelids as he blinked back into awareness.

Across the marshes and to the bridge, over the bridge and to the island. There were already two Clans there—ShadowClan and RiverClan, mingling in a reserved kind of way—nerves were still frayed about a recent sickness that had spread during a Gathering from RiverClan to ShadowClan, and there were disputes over prey between ShadowClan and ThunderClan. Their leader looked around in surprise—they were late, but where was WindClan?

"Firestar!" said Leopardstar, her irritated expression vanishing and replaced by a cordial, businesslike, I Wish You Would Go Get Eaten By a Pack of Rabid Badgers But We Can't Have Everything We Want in Life, Right? smile.

Blackstar seemed unsurprised that Firestar was there—either he knew that Firestar would never miss a gathering, or their rude lateness was no surprise to the ShadowClan leader.

"Blackstar, Leopardstar," Firestar dipped his head towards them. "Where is Onestar?"

"If we knew, he'd be _here, _wouldn't he?" said Blackstar coldly. "We'll be beginning without any cats who can't be bothered to Gather." He yowled to get all three Clans' attention, then leapt up into the tree without consulting either of the other leaders. Firestar mused as he jumped up behind Leopardstar that if Blackstar had had any good feelings towards WindClan since they were the only Clan that had not offended his, they were all gone now.

Blackstar opened by reporting good prey, two new apprentices, a new warrior, and that Flamepaw had become medicine cat apprentice, and growled at Leopardstar that all his cats were _recovering well._ He didn't mention the prey issue with ThunderClan. He felt that it was their problem alone. Firestar felt that the crotchety leader was just too proud to admit anything. He wasn't even sure if their Clan (only a handful of warriors had come) was recovering at all—either way, Blackstar would never reveal or even acknowledge any weakness within his Clan.

Leopardstar reported prey running away, water moving, and cats getting old and dying. Firestar heard Graystripe growl, "Oh, really? And is the sky still blue, too?" There were no longer any cases of the sickness. She seemed relatively truthful about that, unlike Blackstar, whom Firestar didn't trust—he wasn't sure why, though. It could have been something to do with his dream last night.

Firestar reported Bumblepaw, Briarpaw, and Blossompaw's promotion to apprenticeship and that the sickness fortunately still had not spread to his Clan. Blackstar's eyes narrowed, but he dipped his head and then leapt from the tree. Leopardstar didn't even look at him before jumping down, gathering her Clan, leaving no room for discussion, and following Blackstar to the bridge.

Firestar stood in the tree a bit longer, imagining Onestar jumping off behind the other two leaders after shooting a glare at Firestar. He knew that that was exactly what the young leader would have done, but as Firestar looked around in puzzlement, the island was still empty of WindClan.

* * *

Firestar was held down by a huge black wing, the feathers in his face feeling as if every one was a stinging nettle that burned into his skin and hurt like fire. He had finally stopped squirming enough to hear the words of the crow, who sounded very amused by him.

"You just don't listen, right?"

"No, not usually when I'm being held down by a _giant bird!" _snarled Firestar, sucking his stomach in to avoid getting stuck with the nettle-feathers. _Nettlefeather. _Sounded like a warrior name.

"Fine," agreed the crow. "I may be here to give you messages from your consciousness, but I know your subconscious well enough to see that you also need a warning about tomorrow's Gathering."

"How do you know what's going to happen tomorrow?" demanded Firestar, having almost no idea what the bird had just said and twisting and getting stung again. "Are you from StarClan or something?"

"Didn't I just tell you how I knew?" squawked the crow, lowering his wing so that several feathers burned his prisoner. "And anyway, here's the message. I rather congratulate myself on it—it was hard to mimic your method of giving these warnings."

"_I_ don't give any warnings," growled Firestar, flattening himself to avoid the nettle-feathers as the crow shifted. "That's StarClan."

"You just... keep telling yourself that," muttered the crow, chuckling slightly.

Firestar ignored him. "What's the warning?"

"Okay, okay—'While the third clan gathers, the fourth clan crumbles;

under a new sun, father of a young son will become deputy,

while the kits of the deputy take separate paths,

their father still unknown...

And while all three will survive,

More than the rest will die.'"

Firestar stared at the crow.

"That doesn't even rhyme," he said.

The crow shrugged (if crows can shrug). "I did my best," it said.


	5. Chapter Four: Answered

**Author's Note:**

Here's the next chapter, and thanks to everyone for the reviews! :)  
As I said, this one was written before _Sunrise _came out, so it had all my predictions for the next book in it. Of course, they're all AU now, but for the sake of this story, here's what I though would happen :P

Mo0ny

_**

* * *

**_

_**Chapter Four: **_**Answered**

"Firestar."

"Yes?" he replied, coming slowly out of the medicine den. He didn't care who was talking. No scent was distinguishable and all cats were together, against a common enemy. And besides, he never wanted to go back into that den. It didn't feel right anymore.

Crowfeather was waiting, a gash on his shoulder and a limp, staring at the leader. But the most pain was in his eyes. Firestar looked at the WindClan warrior and saw his own pain, exactly, only his was ten times worse. "We have to talk," Crowfeather said.

Now that he was outside, the empty wrongness of everything was magnified and multiplied. Firestar turned his head away from the throng of cats he wished he could join but knew, by the all eight of his lost lives, that he could not bear to.

The mourners.

"You have to know what I heard, yesterday," said Crowfeather. ThunderClan's leader did not respond. "Firestar! Are you listening?" The WindClan warrior stopped and looked back at him.

"Yes," replied Firestar, tearing his gaze away from the camp entrance as it disappeared behind them.

"Okay..." Crowfeather glanced doubtfully at the leader, as if he didn't believe or trust him. He probably didn't, Firestar mused absently. He was going into shock, wasn't he?... "After Onestar was driven out, Sol was nothing but a good leader. That is why we didn't come to the Gathering, because we knew the other Clans wouldn't like it. Well, I didn't like it either. Fortunately, Sol liked me, and I basically became his deputy, so I always had a chance to listen. I knew he was up to something, had some motivation, I just wasn't quite sure what.

"Then, a ThunderClan cat came, and they requested to speak with Sol. Said it was urgent. Firestar, no cat other than WindClan _knew_ that Sol was with us. He hadn't left camp since he'd first come. The warrior went in and I heard them talking. They knew all about the schedules and when who was going on what patrol today... They told Sol exactly when the attack would be best launched.

"And the warrior said that they had left a false trail to anger ShadowClan, so that they would be willing to gang up one them with WindClan. This cat was a spy, Firestar, and a good spy. They infiltrated everyone easily, and they infiltrated you easily. The warrior wanted to teach ThunderClan a lesson. They knew you were vulnerable after Ashfur's death.

"This cat was the one who killed him."

Firestar stared at the gray warrior.

"Who?..." he said. "A—not a _ThunderClan _warrior?"

Crowfeather stared back at him.

He didn't need to answer.

"Firestar?" Crowfeather called after the leader. "Firestar!"

He did not reply. He ran.

"Where are you going?" Crowfeather yelled, breaking into a run. "Don't you want to know who it is?"

"Alright, _who_?" demanded Firestar, stopping abruptly and rounding on the WindClan cat. "Who is it?"

"Think," urged Crowfeather, "Which cat doesn't seem trustworthy? Which cat seems so unlikely to be calm in this time of turmoil? Which cat," asked Crowfeather, "should be mourning for their Clanmate, but is instead running around in the shadows, confusing every cat and breaking rules to keep their secrets?"

Firestar stared off into the woods, and then it hit him. "No—not—" he looked back at Crowfeather pleadingly, begging him to say no. "Not Lionblaze?"

He found himself unable to face it, on top of everything else. He had lost so many cats today that he had been so close to for so long, and now, his own grandson's betrayal—on top of it all, it wasn't even worth listening.

Firestar tore off for camp, not pausing to listen to the cries of the unusually sympathetic Crowfeather that drowned in the forest behind him. He charged into camp, and then stopped dead, watching as, slowly, Jayfeather dragged Mousefur across the ground, and gently left her to rest beside her long-gone Clanmates.

"No..." The leader crumpled to the ground, not even able to summon the energy to look for Lionblaze and confront him, or even drag his injured legs into his den and sleep. He had lost almost everything and almost everyone, and exhaustion suddenly dragged at his paws and dragged him down to earth.

_Mousefur... Longtail... Dustpelt... Hazeltail... Honeyfern... Bumblepaw... Foxpaw... Birchfall... Leafpool—Brambleclaw—Cloudtail—Graystripe—Sandstorm—_

He hid his eyes. They were gone. All gone.

"Fireheart—" a warrior panted behind him, but he didn't move. "Fireheart, no. Lionblaze isn't the traitor."

The leader looked up at Crowfeather, dim and unfeeling, unwilling to hear anything else from this cat.

"It's not Lionblaze," the gray warrior panted. "It's Hollyleaf."


	6. Chapter Five: Charges

**Author's Note: **

Okay, just two more chapters! Thanks so much to everyone for the reviews :)  
The pacing in this one is kind of weird, but it only leaves about one question unanswered--which I think you already guessed anyway :P

Mo0ny

_**

* * *

**_

_**Chapter Five: **_**Charges**

"They said _what_?"

* * *

"Firestar..." A quiet voice broke into Firestar's thoughts.

"Yes Lionblaze?" He recognized the quaver in the young warrior's deep voice. Laboriously, ThunderClan's leader rolled over in his makeshift nest and faced his grandson.

"I'm just..." the apprentice bowed his head. "I just don't really know how to... handle.... the..." His eyes were suddenly on Firestar. "So many were lost... in the battle... accusations and alliances and things were uncovered that no cat wants to acknowledge... and now?..."

"And now," agreed Firestar. "And now what?"

* * *

"They said," Hollyleaf reported breathlessly, her eyes lit with fire, "That they were ready."

* * *

"Hollyleaf," growled Firestar, "Do you deny the charges against you?"

His granddaughter stared at him as if he had lost his mind. Then her eyes narrowed and her back arched.

She smiled.

"No."

* * *

"Ready?" repeated Firestar urgently. "For _what_?"

"I don't know," whispered Hollyleaf, "But I hope we're ready too."

* * *

"You don't deny that you killed Ashfur?" Firestar said, his pulse rising in his throat and his voice getting louder. The Clan sat, silent and wide-eyed, around them, with the guests woven in. "He was killed in cold blood. He didn't even have a chance to put up a fight. Are you saying _you_ are the one who murdered him?"

* * *

"ShadowClan and WindClan are on either side of our territory," said Brambleclaw. "How do we fight that? We can't launch two attacks at once."

"We'll need someone to send a message to RiverClan for help," Firestar decided. "One of the apprentices. Rosepaw!"

The apprentice's ears pricked from across camp where she and her brother had been talking, and she raced over. "Yes, Firestar?"

* * *

"Yes, Firestar," replied Hollyleaf, her smile calm, "That's exactly what I'm saying."

* * *

"We have enough warriors so that some can journey up the territory with the elders and queens and kits," Brambleclaw summed up, "and enough warriors to fight, once RiverClan gets here. As for medicine..."

"Jayfeather can be the backup, here at camp," Firestar decided. He knew the tom wouldn't like it, but they had to face it—Jayfeather just wasn't safe in battle. "Undoubtedly the fighting will be nearby enough so that any fatally injured cat can get here and be treated."

"Are you saying that Leafpool is going into _battle_?" Squirrelflight demanded. "No!"

* * *

It was Lionblaze who broke the deafening silence.

"No!" he yowled. "_No!" _

All heads swiveled towards the tom.

"Yes, yes," Hollyleaf said, opening her eyes. Her voice sounded agonized now, unstable and terrified. "I couldn't have him telling the other Clans we weren't one of them. I couldn't _lose _that. The warrior code is what I live by. If I didn't have it, I couldn't live. I had to know, for _sure, _that I was one of us. And if Ashfur told everyone I wasn't, I'd never have gotten the chance. You see?

"And now," Hollyleaf went on, her reverent calm returning, "I know."

Lionblaze stared.

"You—know—_what._" said Lionblaze. It wasn't even a question. It was a statement.

"I know who our parents are," replied Hollyleaf evenly. Her eyes moved through the crowd, and came to rest on one cat.

"You."

* * *

"_I _don't know why they're attacking," Firestar heard his daughter saying to her former apprentice. "StarClan hasn't told me anything about this."

"That," growled Jayfeather, "Is not what I was asking, which you know very well."

"Leafpool?" said Firestar, entering the medicine den. "Can I speak with you?"

"Yes," she said, dipping her head. "Of course."

* * *

Another dead silence met her words.

"Leafpool?" said Crowfeather. He raised his head to stare at the body of the cat who drew on every other's eyes. "_What_?"

"Yes," smiled Hollyleaf. "Her. I don't know what StarClan thinks about _that, _but... Well, I hope they've already led my mother to join them, because I don't think she can be kicked out again."

"_You_—" Crowfeather leapt over Leafpool's motionless body towards his daughter, his face anguished and furious, teeth bared and claws unsheathed. Several cats made moves towards him and Hollyleaf, whether to defend her or help him claw her, Firestar didn't know. But he stepped in front of his granddaughter and stopped everyone.

"Wait," he said, trying very hard to control the boiling fury in his stomach and to keep himself from lunging at the murderer beside him. "_Wait_."

* * *

"_Charge_!" some cat roared from above them, and suddenly smells, noises, yowls, and claws engulfed Firestar. With a cry, he went down, and dark fur filled his eyes and face, pressing down so that he couldn't breathe—a cat had fallen from above the gorge, onto him.

Screeches and yelps filled his ears as the two Clans attacked. From every side. With no warning.

ThunderClan never had a chance.

* * *

"She has the right to a fair chance for us to find out what has happened. Hollyleaf," Firestar said, fighting to keep his voice steady, "how do you know that Leafpool was your mother?"

"Simple. She was the one with us when Squirrelflight came home. We couldn't have just been rogues in the woods, because otherwise she wouldn't have to lie about it. And we have the same traits as our family, and I know full well about Leafpool and Crowfeather and their... temporary leave.

"And we have to be her kits... because we are the Three." She looked directly into his green eyes. They were the exact same color as her own. "You know it yourself."

* * *

Firestar lay on his side, the wall facing him. Flashes of the unfolding end of his story were dissolving before his eyes—_Hollyleaf, twisting and yowling as she fell—_and moving as if they were reflections—_Leafpool dipping her head towards her father, wrapped in stars and moonlight as he—_on the surface of the ripples that—_named the new ThunderClan deputy before—_were the stone, growing darker before him—_cats from all five Clans—_and even as he was surrounded by cats, the ones he loved like brothers and sisters even though only two still shared his blood—_and Lionblaze bowed his head—_and now, now, Firestar finally—_and accepted his position as deputy—_understood.

And finally, as the blackness swallowed him whole,

Firestar

understood.


	7. Epilogue: Impossible

**Author's Note**

Okay, here's the end--it's really short, but thanks for reading, and for all the reviews! May StarClan light your path! :P

Mo0ny

* * *

_**Epilogue**_**: Impossible **

He hit the hard surface hard, his eyes squeezed shut in denial. _No, no, no_... It couldn't be true...

Slowly, afraid, he opened his eyes.

"No," he whispered aloud. _It couldn't have all been a dream._ "No..." he said again. "It wasn't..."

Slowly, Rusty got to his paws, and stared around the kitchen that he had never left.

**The End**


End file.
